1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for evaluating the ionomer spatial distribution in a fuel cell electrode and, more particularly, to a method for evaluating the ionomer spatial distribution in a fuel cell MEA including embedding the MEA in an epoxy, slicing sections of the MEA and then exposing the sliced sections to titanium tetrachloride vapors so as to stain non-ionomer materials in the MEA.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte therebetween. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen or air. The hydrogen gas is dissociated in the anode to generate free hydrogen protons and electrons. The hydrogen protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The hydrogen protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. The PEMFC generally includes a solid polymer electrolyte proton conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). MEAs are relatively expensive to manufacture and require certain conditions for effective operation.
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. For example, a typical fuel cell stack for a vehicle may have two hundred or more stacked fuel cells. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode input gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include water as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen input gas that flows into the anode side of the stack.
The fuel cell stack includes a series of bipolar plates positioned between the several MEAs in the stack, where the bipolar plates and the MEAs are positioned between two end plates. The bipolar plates include an anode side and a cathode side for adjacent fuel cells in the stack. Anode gas flow channels are provided on the anode side of the bipolar plates that allow the anode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. Cathode gas flow channels are provided on the cathode side of the bipolar plates that allow the cathode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. One end plate includes anode gas flow channels, and the other end plate includes cathode gas flow channels. The bipolar plates and end plates are made of a conductive material, such as stainless steel or a conductive composite. The end plates conduct the electricity generated by the fuel cells out of the stack. The bipolar plates also include flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
It is known in the MEA art to coat the catalyst layer on the polymer electrolyte membrane. The catalyst layer may be deposited directly on the membrane, or indirectly applied to the membrane by first coating the catalyst on a decal substrate. Typically the catalyst is coated on the decal substrate as a slurry by a rolling process. The catalyst is then transferred to the membrane by a hot-pressing step. This type of MEA fabrication process is sometimes referred to as a catalyst coated membrane (CCM).
After the catalyst is coated on the decal substrate, an ionomer layer is typically sprayed over the catalyst layer before it is transferred to the membrane. Because both the catalyst and the membrane include the ionomer, the ionomer spray layer provides a better contact between the catalyst and the membrane, because it decreases the contact resistance between the catalyst and the membrane. This increases the proton exchange between the membrane and the catalyst, and thus, increases fuel cell performance.
The decal substrate can be a porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) decal substrate. However, the ePTFE substrate is expensive and not reusable. Particularly, when the catalyst is transferred to the membrane on the ePTFE substrate, a certain portion of the catalyst or catalyst components remain on the ePTFE substrate. Additionally, the ePTFE substrate stretches, deforms and absorbs solvents making a cleaning step very difficult. Hence, every ePTFE substrate used to make each anode and cathode is discarded.
The decal substrate can also be a non-porous ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) decal substrate. The ETFE decal substrate provides minimal loss of catalyst and ionomer to the substrate because virtually all of the coating is decal transferred. The substrate does not deform and can be reused. For both of these processes, the anode and cathode decal substrates are cut to the dimensions of the final electrode size, then hot-pressed to the perfluorinated membrane, and subsequently, the decal substrate is pealed off.
As discussed above, the MEA includes a mixture of platinum supported on carbon particles that is mixed with an ionomer. The ionomer has a tendency to encapsulate the carbon particles, sometimes covering the platinum particles. In order to optimize the performance of the MEA, it is necessary to optimize the mixture that makes up the MEA. Thus, it may be necessary to differentiate the various materials in the MEA, such as the size of the carbon particles, the distribution of the platinum particles, the amount of the ionomer, the size and shape of the pores between the various materials, etc. One particular desire is to identify the spatial distribution of the ionomer in the fuel cell electrodes for MEA optimization purposes. Further, it is desirable to minimize the amount of platinum in the MEA because of its expense. However, because the different materials include some of the same components, such as carbon, it is difficult to differentiate them when looking through a microscope.